Gamers' Challenge (19 page)

- but his expression spoke of repeated loss and new hope. Zyra mouthed the words ‘Old Man’ and squeezed Tark’s hand.

‘Let’s go,’ she whispered.

‘Wait,’ said Tark. ‘It all started with a kiss.’

Zyra’s smile broadened and she leaned in to kiss

Tark. As their lips met, she touched the card.

01100101 0 1111000 0 1101001 0111 0 100 glowed across the surface of the key.

Everything they had ever known melted away as

Tark and Zyra finally, irreversibly, left the game.

Acknowledgements
 

My thanks to Ford Street for publishing this book and its predecessor, and for all the great feedback and assistance the staff provided.

As always, my wife, Kerri, who read and commented on my outline and early drafts. This time around she was also instrumental in the shaping of the story, courtesy of a brainstorming session during a long drive out to the country. I am indebted to her m so many ways.

And for inspiration I must acknowledge William Gibson’s
Neuromancer
for its dead channel sky; Steven Moffat’s
Doctor Who
episode ‘The Empty Child’ for its terrifying image of WWII gasmasks;
Star
Trek
for its communicators; and the terrific YA anthology
, Zombies
vs Unicorns,
edited by Justine Larbalestier and Holly Black - after reading this anthology I had to have both zombies and unicorns in
Garners’ Challenge.